Laocoön and His Sons
This plaster cast of Laocoön and his sons set upon by serpents is one of my favorites.
I purchased it from the estate of a friend I had known since high school, and I still have pleasant memories of it in his packed house.
Missing arms, legs, and heads, in my opinion it is superior to a bronze I could have purchased a few years later, and I might add, at a much higher sum. The bronze lacked the patina and character of this cast, which was certainly more reasonably priced.
The much-admired original, a Hellenistic marble, was discovered in the 1500s and has been in the Vatican since.
Charles H. Alexander | October 2018